A menacing white foam covered one of India most famous beaches in Chennai for the fourth straight day on Monday creating a new pollution hazard for the country.
Children have been playing and taking selfies in the clouds of white suds on Marina Beach, even though they give off an acrid smell and fishermen have been told not to go into the sea nearby.
Aljazeera reported that, doctors have warned that skin problems could be caused by the foam, which forms every monsoon season but has been particularly bad this year.
Authorities were also on alert for a repeat of a 2017 incident when thousands of fish were killed by pollution that hit beaches around the same time.
A fisherman said, customers do not want to buy even the small amount of fish he has been able to catch in recent days.
According to Aljazeera, Marina Beach has been a centerpiece of Chennai life for more than a century. At weekends, tens of thousands of people fill the once-pristine sands where the pollution is another sign of India’s struggle to keep up with its growing economy.
Experts blame heavy rain in recent days that has carried untreated sewage and phosphate down to the sea.
